FAQ: How Did You Learn About Joseph’s Allergies?

April 10, 2013

I am often surprised by the question of how we learned about Joseph’s allergies. The answer just seems so simple. We gave him milk and nuts and he immediately blew up in hives. Gluten took a bit more digging through an elimination diet, but we had that figured out before he was five months old.

Now I’m realizing how blessed I was to have it that clear. I have a couple of friends who are trying to understand why their children are reacting. One has had a blood test and is now trying to confirm the findings through an elimination diet. Another’s baby is breaking out in hives and she doesn’t know the trigger, if it is food or environmental.

Most of my food allergies were obvious as a kid, too. I ate peanuts, broke out in hives, threw up and had trouble breathing. Same with some other foods. Those were confirmed through tests as a kid. My sesame allergy took longer to discover – I had hummus when I was younger and had hives and vomiting, and just avoided chickpeas after that. I figured that caused it. But whenever i would eat sesame buns, I would get swollen lips and an itchy mouth. I finally went to get tested for both sesame and chickpea and found it was the sesame which I was allergic to.

Thirteen months ago I heard statistics about how many words a 2yo was supposed to say…most say at least 50, the majority say 200-300. My son was 21mo and maybe had 10 words, none of which were consistent. I immediately called our pediatrician who saw us that day.

I knew he was different than my daughter as a baby, but they’re 13 years apart, opposite sexes and have different dads…I guess I just didnt want to pressure myself that he SHOULD be like she was. Needless to say I was horrified when the doc asked me things like “does he dance?” and the answer was “no” and I all of a sudden realized he wasn’t developing normally.

We did standard blood tests including allergy tests for gluten and dairy, which came back normal. But the doc didn’t stop there because they see so many kids who don’t speak, come off gluten and dairy and start b-12 injections and start speaking. We did igg sensitivity blood testing through Allatess Labs. We chose the version that tests for 90+ foods. The results are 0: no sensitivity; 1: mild; 2 moderate; 3 severe. Doc said remove 2’s and 3’s, limit 1’s.

Gluten and dairy were 2’s, as well as some other things. Here are his 3’s: Soy, nuts, peanuts, garlic, sesame seeds, oats, bran, black pepper.

We got those results just after his 2nd birthday last June. We took him off all 2s and 3s, and put him on B-12. Almost immediately he started to use his 10 words more consistently. (We also started speech therapy and later on OT, PT and a developmental specialist.). He has been evolving since then.

BUT, here’s the kicker. Last Sept I gave in to a fit he had because he wanted Lays potato chips (soybean oil). For 3 days he walked like he had polio, he had flat affect and did not utter a sound. My poor baby lived in that state for the first 2 years of his life. My heart is still broken over this. I am SO VERY grateful to God for revealing it all at such a young age, but as I watch my younger son without delays and sensitivities I realize more and more the isolation my 1st son endured. My boys are 16 months apart but developmentally they are just about twins. The older knows more, but the younger can do more…motor skills, coordination, communication.

Anyway, I say all this because I know there are other kiddos out there who don’t get hives, etc. whose moms are like I was…totally unaware that “normal” food can reek such havoc. And even the kiddos who do get hives, there can be other less pronounced sensitivities that are causing problems as well.

The take away point is this: never ignore “the mama gut”. If there is even the slightest question in your gut about your kiddo, DO NOT STOP digging until you find the answer. Unfortunately the majority of doctors have not been educated about nutrition. Find someone who is!

I was exclusively breast feeding and was out shopping when the Huzz, who was home with my then 6 month old, called and told me we were out of pumped milk. I told him to give her a formula, sample. She immediately cried, spit it up, and had hives on her tiny face. We switched to soy formula for supplementing and officially had her tested after she turned one. Allergic to dairy and eggs.